LEE WILKIE: Dundee MUST prove title credentials v Inverness CT

By Lee Wilkie

September 12 2022, 4:03pm

Dundee are off to their best start to a season in EIGHT years

Inconsistent teams don’t win titles.

That’s why Dundee to prove their Championship chasing credentials – NOW.

Following confirmation that the weekend’s fixtures will take place as scheduled ahead of the Queen’s funeral on Monday, the Dark Blues will welcome Inverness Caledonian Thistle to Dens Park on Saturday.

It’s a chance for Gary Bowyer’s side to keep the ball rolling from that 3-0 win over Queen’s Park in their last game.

It’s a chance to keep up their best start to a league campaign for eight seasons.

🚀 🔥

Zach Robinson 👏 👏 👏 #thedee pic.twitter.com/maCyTFz66x

— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) September 3, 2022

Most importantly, it’s a chance to build the kind of momentum title contenders need to build belief.

And crucially, it’s at Dens Park.

For me, every home game should be a must-win game for Dundee. That’s the way they have to look at it.

They should come into every game on their own patch looking to get the fans 100% behind them by dominating their opponents.

Teams who have escaped the Championship as champions have always done that over the years.

I want to see Dundee setting their stall out now as a team that wins at home.

Dundee fans want to see team that makes Dens Park a fortress

If this is to be a title-winning season, that’s where the foundation will be built.

From there, if you build a reputation as a serious outfit, you can look at adding points away from home.

If they can achieve that, they could really dominate in a league as historically tough and inconsistent as the Championship.

But it all starts at home.

On the whole, they’ve been pretty good so far this season.

They’ve scored some goals, kept some clean sheets and got some important wins.

They did let themselves down against Ayr, which would have been both a sore one and a worrying one.

Dundee were disappointing as they lost away to Ayr United

After all, the Honest Men are also a team in form, and any result against them could be taken as an indicator of where Dundee are.

At that time, they weren’t quite where they wanted to be.

Inverness are another side who’ll think they should be pushing for promotion, after losing out in the play-off final against St Johnstone last season.

But, again, if Dundee have designs on the title, it’s a game they should be targeting three points from at Dens Park.

Inverness Caley Thistle will be a tough team to play against.

But if Dundee can’t beat them at home, their title credentials will rightly end up being questioned.